


At Least He's Not Going on Seven

by Error403HRD



Series: Torturing my characters [17]
Category: Linked Universe - Fandom, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Angst, Gen, Linked Universe (Legend of Zelda), Post-Breath of the Wild, Wild (Linked Universe)-centric
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-20
Updated: 2020-10-22
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:41:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,602
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27112100
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Error403HRD/pseuds/Error403HRD
Summary: Wild's been sent on another adventure.He's curious, but things have changed in his world very quickly, three blood moons in a row doesn't bode well for...anything really.Flora's smart, she can help.(Written before doing research on the Zonai and before Botw 2's release, so it's only canon compliant regarding Botw and some of AoC, this is not a serious theory/prediction on Botw 2's story, it is simply a cool idea that I ran with.)
Relationships: Flora & Wild (Linked Universe), Link & Purah (Legend of Zelda), Wild & Purah
Series: Torturing my characters [17]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2105427
Comments: 7
Kudos: 92





	1. The Passage

**Author's Note:**

> So, yeah, don't expect a stable update schedule, I've got the second chapter and most of the third started out, but if I try an update schedule my want to write will shrivel up and die, and yes, I'm procrastinating getting Son's tenth chapter up and running.

Wild sighed, feeling the pulling in his chest. It was an annoying yet familiar feeling, so he went to pack his things. Twilight gave him an odd look,

"Cub, what are you doing?"

Having drawn the attention of the rest of his brothers, Wild shrugged, continuing to make sure everything was in his slate.

"You don't feel it? We're switching."

The other Links looked at each other and shook their heads, a sudden nervousness washing over them. Time walked over, a pensive look on his face,

"Wild, you might be the only one switching."

Wild froze momentarily, Twilight gave his shoulder a squeeze as his stomach dropped to the floor.

Taking a breath, Wild smiled at them, it was shaky and barely genuine,

"Well....I guess we say our goodbyes then."

There was a feeling of grief already spreading among the group, Four walked up, handing him a metal ladle, eyes circling through many colors before landing on purple.

"Here. To remember us. It's not a weapon, so it shouldn't break. Ladles are really annoying to make you know."

Wild gave a shaky grin and hugged Four. Twilight accepted his embrace, and Sky and Wind leapt in for the next one.

Time cleared his throat, getting within hugging range of Wild,

"Well. Either you're leaving for good, or only temporarily. Be prepared for either outcome...." Time ruffled his hair as Legend begrudgingly hugged Wild, "That being said, embrace your chaotic nature and give 'em hell Cub."

A round of light laughter started up, and it wasn't even a full ten seconds before Wild was gone.

Twilight gave a sigh and the mood in the camp soured once more.

Hopefully they'd see him again.

-

Wild looked around, immediately recognizing the forest outside of Hateno. He took a glance at the map and started walking.

He...didn't want to warp. Not yet. He needed to mentally prepare himself for the possibility of never seeing his brothers again.

He wasn't stupid, there were only two reasons he'd ever switch alone.

One, their adventure was done, they were all going home. It was unlikely, given how they still hadn't managed to find the root of all the infected monsters.

Two, he was going on another adventure.

It was odd really, the others had already finished their adventures, so why hadn't he? Maybe he needed to meet them first or he'd fail?

Take a breath, think about it with Flora.

Flora was smart, she'd be able to figure all this out.

There was an exuberant greeting as he reached Hateno, he hadn't a moment before Flora was hugging him. Her hair had been cut short, a logical decision since she wasn't as adept in battle as him. And even then he probably should've done the same.

"Great timing Wild! I was about to head to the castle. I found a passage that I wanted to explore, but we've had three blood moons in a row, which has made things difficult."

Wild gave a grin, appreciating that she was still calling him that in private. After all, Link wasn't really his name, never really was. Link was the man who died facing Ganon, Wild was the crazy fifteen year old that rode bears to stables and liked bending time to his will.

A passage though? That she didn't know of? She told him of how she knew the castle like the back of her hand, and how she used that to her advantage to escape her father's disappointed and angry looks.

It was certainly curious, perhaps she did some digging in a previously forbidden area?

Flora gave a smile,

"So, will you be joining me?"

Wild gave a nod, smiling, he could figure out this whole mission later, after Flora got her exploration fix. If he was lucky, they'd find a relic in there that would set this new adventure in motion. Even if he didn't, Flora was the only one in a similar boat to him. She was like his sister, he'd do pretty much anything for her.

She deserved a happy life; if that meant playing guard again, then that was damn well what he'd do.

"Yeah, hopefully the monsters in the castle aren't infected. Do you want to warp, or are we going on foot?"

Flora nodded, showing off a sheikah slate that was slightly different from his own. So that was what she and Purah had wanted to borrow his slate for last time? Interesting.

Flora was excited, bouncing in place as she flicked through the map and pictures and storage.

"We're warping, Purah used a calibration system that took all the shrines you found, all one hundred and twenty, and the towers, and put them onto this slate. It's only really good for storage, warping, and note taking since the runes are still a bit weird without a base to work off of, the camera rune is working fine though!"

Wild smiled at her enthusiasm, glad that she was happy researching with Purah and Simon. He still hadn't quite found a purpose outside of being a wanderer and helping out fellow travellers.

"Alright then, there's one directly in the castle-"

"Yep! It's pretty close to the passageway I found too, see you there!"

And with a few taps of the screen, Flora was gone. Wild gave a small laugh, amused smile upon his face. She was always charging ahead wasn't she? Just like Wind.

Well, she didn't have much of a childhood, he could play big brother to her just like he did for Wind. The fact that he was three years younger meant nothing.

Wild opened up his slate and quickly warped to the shrine in the castle.

Flora was bouncing in place at the base of the shrine. She gave him a grin, sword at her side and bow on her back, prepared just as Wild was.

She lacked a shield, but it should be fine. He didn't really use his shields for anything other than shield surfing anyway.

She led him through the castle, carefully avoiding areas with monsters, Wild wasn't sure leaving them here was wise, but if they had had three blood moons in a row, then it probably wasn't worth trying to clear the castle.

"Oh," Flora whispered as she led him to a very broken area of the castle, "I should tell you that a few knew species of monsters have been created, the new ones in the castle resemble the Darknuts and Iron Knuckles from ages past. The ones in other areas appear to be Dodongos, ReDeads, Skulltulas, Tektites, and Wallmasters, which are incredibly annoying I'll have you know."

That gave Wild pause, he was horrible at fighting most monsters from the others' times, so he'd have to be tremendously careful when walking around and exploring from now on. He'd heard tales of the Darknuts and Iron Knuckles, and he had no wishes to ever encounter a ReDead ever again.

It took nearly an hour of walking and hiding from monsters before Flora led him to the opening, she grabbed the torch left at the opening, lit it, gave Wild an excited grin, and entered.

Her lack of hesitation was astounding, but Wild wasn't far behind, only making sure the exit was covered by broken stones so no monsters would try to follow them.

They both had slates if they got desperate.

Flora made a noise of curiosity and Wild quickly walked over to her side, letting out a quiet gasp as he saw the glowing green runes.

They were both beautiful and haunting, but they weren't the familiar Sheikah Script. He wished he knew what they said.

Flora looked a little uncomfortable, but she didn't say why, only letting her curiosity lead her further into the cavern. She clearly didn't know what the words said either.

Perhaps it was Goron script? They were underground, but Wild could read Goron just fine....perhaps it was _Ancient Goron!_

His attention was drawn to an odd sound and his head swiveled towards it.

"Running water?" Flora turned at the sound of his voice, moving the torch to where Wild stood.

Sure enough, there was a small stream, the water looked remarkably clean.

Hyrule would have a fit if he saw this. Water in an old cavern was cleaner than the water in his entire world.

"Hm, we must be closer to the surface than I thought."

Filing away the information for later, Wild didn't resist the urge to scan the water with magnesis, then stasis.

Nothing.

A little disappointed, he followed Flora's lead.

She was taking pictures of the runes, likely to ask Purah or Impa about later.

A few more minutes of walking, the runes continuing to glow as they passed, and Flora found a large cavern.

She grinned and Wild looked around.

"Wow! To find a cavern like this, it must be ancient! Maybe we'll find another hidden shrine!"

Wild didn't think so, he had the sensor on and no shrines were in the area.

Still, he didn't want to put a damper on Flora's mood.

Wild stayed around the outer edge, trying to both decipher the runes, find buried chests, and keep the cavern from being entered by monsters.

Flora got closer to the pedestal, curious about the floating green runes that formed a barrier around something.

Wild wanted to shout at her not to touch it, but it was too late.

Her powers caused a bright golden glow, they collided with the green runes. The green magic stuck to the large emaciated form on the pedestal, before turning red.

Wild felt his stomach twist as Flora froze in fascination.

Why wasn't his voice working?

Not now not now not now-

A mummified hand reached out and grabbed Flora by the throat, she screamed and Wild raced forward, only to be thrown back.

New red runes, a different script than the green, formed a barrier.

Some of the green ones imprinted on his arm.

Wild didn't want to know what they did.

He backed up before more of them could reach him.

He stared in horror as a figure they both knew very well appeared. His glowing red eyes pierced Wild's mind.

No matter the form, Wild would always recognize those eyes.

" _The Triforce...is **mine**_ "

The hand around Flora's neck revealed a glowing Triforce of Power.

Flora knew what she had to do.

"WILD!" She pulled at her Triforce of Wisdom, ripping it from her very soul, causing her to cry out in agonizing pain. She weathered the agony and threw it at Wild, he caught it and it joined with his soul.

Wisdom's power left her and joined him.

The runes on Wild's left arm shone green, while new blue script formed on his right.

It wasn't something he noticed, too absorbed in his horror.

All he could do was watch as Flora rapidly aged, going from a young lady to a middle aged woman to an old woman to a corpse.

She didn't even stand a chance.

Ganon looked at her for a moment and threw her body across the room, setting his sights on Wild.

Wild saw the glowing red runes surrounding him. They absorbed into Ganon's skin. And he stood.

He couldn't defeat this Ganon.

Kicking himself into action, Wild slowed down time, expending as much energy as he could afford, noting with little interest how the script on his left glowed green, and sprinted over to Flora. He grabbed her and opened up his sheikah slate, tapping a random location to warp to.

There was a sea of blue as he stared with horror at those glowing red eyes.

He came to at the top of the Great Plateau Tower, staring at the castle like he had all those months ago.

The ground shook, red magic formed at the base of Hyrule castle.

It was brought into the air.

Challenging him.

He wasn't going to be able to do this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feel free to recommend any tags.
> 
> And yes, the title is a reference to Legend :)
> 
> Aiming for Tuesday night/Wednesday Morning. Trying to actually get a schedule going.


	2. Peace

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wild seeks out a friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The chapter needed a few tweaks, but it's done now.

Wild looked at Flora's body, and knew what he had to do.

Purah would likely be able to help him figure out the runes on his arms too.

Gathering Flora's withered corpse, he refused to look at the floating castle in the darkening sky.

He warped to Hateno, his mind wasn't working right, everything was muted, he was confused.

He didn't bother knocking, Purah looked surprised at his entrance,

"Ah! Link, what....Link....Link what happened?"

Wild laid Flora down on the couch in the corner, the one that she often slept on in lieu of going home. He took a moment to gather his thoughts before replying,

"We...found another Ganon...he was trying to steal her Wisdom, so she tore it out and gave it to me. Its' removal caused her to rapidly age and give her all the years she should have gotten fighting the Calamity."

Purah was silent for several moments, tears gathering in her eyes, but she gasped as she finally tore her eyes away from Flora and they landed on the writing on his arms. She ran over as fast as her six year old body could and grabbed the arm with green runes. She had a spark of recognition in her eye,

"This is Ancient Hylian! Let me translate it, we need to make sure this isn't a curse."

Wild let her drag him to a chair. His mind was a little foggy for research, but he had to find a way to defeat this new Ganon, and the first step to doing that was figuring out if he was cursed with any particular ailment because of the encounter. He heard Purah solemnly tell Simon to plan a funeral and notify Impa.

He sat there and let himself be manhandled, eyes glazed over and mind still foggy.

He didn't catch Purah's worried glances.

It was nearly a full hour later, Simon had managed to get his hands on a casket, cleaning Flora up and placing her in delicately, and Purah had finally finished deciphering the text. It was written on his arm, which made some of the characters a little hard to decipher. She did her best to put on a positive attitude,

"Okay! So, it says, _By Farore's Will, the Hero shall wield her Magic now and forever. By Farore's Courage, Wind and Time shall heed his call._ "

There was silence for a few moments, as Wild ruminated on the possible meanings of the short phrase.

His mind was a little more willing to work, not much though. It was unsurprising that Purah figured it out first.

"Link...I think Farore has blessed you with the Godesses' Magic....specifically her control over the air we breathe.....but, time as well?"

Wild hesitated for just a moment, before nodding. He already had limited control over time, so it made sense. Purah gave a hum, thinking on it,

"It...makes sense....can you try to harness the wind for me?"

Wild gave an absent nod and focused on the air around him, it was a little stubborn, but he was reminded of Revali's Gale and the stupid tornadoes that Wind made sometimes.

It was just like Wind's Wind Waker.

Just, without the song.

And his lack of practice and concentration wasn't helping.

Purah nodded as a cold breeze nearly knocked her over, the Ancient Hylian glowed a bright green until he stopped.

"All right. Can you slow down time and do something, it should look sped up to me."

Wild gave a nod, he entered the familiar state of slowed time and walked over to Simon, taking the time to attempt to organize his thoughts, not that a few seconds would do much for that. His arm glowed and he paid it no heed. Once he reached Simon, he returned time to its' normal state.

Simon jumped, spooked by his sudden appearance, it made Wild crack a small smile. Purah gave a nod,

"Good. Try to slow it down even more, it'll make it so you practically teleport, but you're obviously pretty good with time manipulation already, so focus on the wind aspect. Now....Link, to help you, I need to know exactly what happened."

Wild winced, but he came to Purah for a reason and she wouldn't be able to help him if she was in the dark.

So he forced the fog aside and told her....everything.

Half an hour later, Purah was sad and Wild was trying hard not to break into tears.

He'd failed again.

He'd gotten someone else killed.

Purah was doing her best to distract herself from her emotions, so she turned to analyzing the information given to her,

"Green runes surrounded him. Farore's Magic must've been used to seal that Ganon away, but Hylia is more powerful alone than Farore is, so Zelda's magic must've accidentally broken the seal. If Nayru _and_ Farore had been used to seal him, it should've been fine, but....that's stupid, because Hylia's power is always used to seal Ganon, so either the wielder of Hylia's power died, which doesn't make sense because our Zelda also had powers, or the Hero and Princess from that time weren't working together to seal their Ganon-you said he looked like a mummy right? We'll call the jerk Corpse Ganon because he deserves it for....killing Zelda...."

The mood dipped even further, and Simon laid a hand on Purah's shoulder in comfort. Wild unwillingly looked at the casket, moments later he forced his eyes away from it, allowing the fog back in.

The sooner he killed Corpse Ganon, the sooner he could cry in Time's arms, or Twilight, or Sky, hell he'd even take Legend or Warriors.

It...couldn't be that much harder than the Calamity, right? He had woken up with no memories and almost no fighting ability, at least he had more of a chance this time?

But Farore didn't bless him last time...and he still did it....so...this Corpse Ganon must be harder.

And now he has to train with magic.....

Magic was always more Hyrule and Legend's thing.

Even Wind and Twilight and Time had experience with it, even Four.

Essentially everyone but him, since he knew even Warriors sometimes used magic when he needed to, and Sky didn't really wield it, but was so exposed to the idea that if he was suddenly saddled with it, he'd be just fine....

Wild had no such experience. The most magic he'd been exposed to was when Ganon was sealed away, and even then, Zelda never really used her power after that, and the only other things that had magic were Wizzrobes, the Yiga, and Blood Moons, and the Blood Moons only revived things and added effects to his cooking, and the Yiga used very traditional arts, arts that he took no interest in because of how they were being used.

His world worked on science, even the runes and slate, which the others called magic, could be scientifically explained. Even Blood Moons had an explanation beyond "the goddesses willed it."

This was probably going to take longer than his first adventure, because now he was playing two parts: the part of the hero and the part of the princess. He has no idea how magic works, which only adds on time for practice. It was going to be horrible. He'd be alone. Even on his first adventure he had Wolfie.

But.....he sounded ungrateful. He had Purah, and Impa, and Sidon, even Teba, Riju, Paya, and Yunobo. He even had Hestu and the Deku Tree and the koroks if he felt so inclined. He wasn't alone. He was going to be fine.

Purah spoke up, inspecting his right arm and snapping him out of his thoughts, her voice was teary and shaky, but she wasn't quite crying, 

"T-The blue script here looks like it's Nayru's, not Hylia's, which means....Hylia's power is no more... It was passed down from mother to daughter for centuries. And since Zelda.... The Golden Goddesses will have guide us to peace..."

Wild was....conflicted about that statement.

Hylia had screwed him, his brothers, and Flora over so many times....but it had been Flora's power.

The power she poured blood, sweat, and tears into awakening.

And now it was gone.

And he had done nothing to earn Nayru's power.

Nothing except get Flora killed and awaken a previous Ganon.

Purah released his arm, teary eyed,

"Link. Get some rest. We'll figure out how to work your new powers tomorrow and we'll work to figure out Nayru's script. You said red script floated around Ganon? That must be Din's Power.... Zelda will be buried in three days, once everyone gets here. We invited the elders of each village, and her friends."

Wild nodded, not willing to speak. He made his way to the home in Hateno. It wasn't his, it was Flora's. He never used it. He wasn't going to use her bed. He grabbed his sleeping roll and set it down underneath the stairs.

After a moment of consideration, tears came to his eyes and he opened up his slate, gazing at the pictures.

Of him and Flora, him and Twi, him and Wind, Wind and Four, him and Four, Legend and Hyrule, him and Hyrule, and just....his family.

He cried himself to sleep that night.

-

It had been an hour since Wild had left, and everyone was a little on edge. 

It was odd without their resident trouble maker.

The camp had never been so quiet.

Twilight stepped forward, kneeling beside a despondent Wind,

"You alright."

Wind gave a shrug and continued picking at the grass.

Twilight knew he wasn't going to get an answer.

Wind had been like that for the past half hour.

Twilight gave a sigh and looked around camp.

He was lonely. Wind was ignoring everyone. Hyrule seemed sad.

It had only been an hour since Wild left.

Time gave a sad smile as he approached, the old man was fiddling with his ocarina.

He only did that when he was worried.

"He'll be fine Twi."

Twi shook his head, eyes downcast as he plopped down next to his mentor,

"Will he be? There's no way of really knowing."

Time didn't bother to reply. He agreed then.

Twilight let out a breath and decided to take a page out of Four's book and cloudgaze.

The clouds were pretty.

He ignored the one that looked like a cooking pot.

He was dreading meal time.

-

Wild took a breath, focusing on his Courage and the air around him. His arm glowed a nice green, but he ignored it, acknowledging it might make him lose focus.

And again, he was blown onto the ground.

He took another breath and let his face stay one with the dirt. He was tempted to punch the dirt beneath him.

He'd been at it for two days and seven hours.

His respect for Flora had grown tenfold and his respect for the stupid Wind Waker had grown exponentially.

"Link? The ceremony is in an hour. Please get ready."

Wild sighed and separated his face from the dirt.

He stayed there, in a plank position, for a few moments, trying to gather his thoughts.

Soon enough, he stood up and brushed himself off, going to wash up and change.

He had a speech to give, he needed to look presentable, if only so the Zora don't flay him alive.

Purah and Simon still hadn't managed to decipher Nayru's blessing, but that simply meant that it wasn't Ancient Hylian, Ancient Shiekah, or any modern language.

He shook his head, trying to clear the fog that was jumbling his thoughts.

He needed to prepare for the ceremony. 

He couldn't afford to be scatterbrained today.

He had bought a new pair of Hylian trousers from Granté and dyed them black, along with the Champion's Tunic, both to show his power so the Zoras wouldn't act out and because Flora made it for him so he was sure the color would be excused. He did his hair in a braided bun and decided not to put on any jewelry. He considered the Royal Guard Cap, but it looked odd without the rest of the uniform. 

The funeral itself was....solemn, but the day was sunny, which Wild was sure Flora would have appreciated.

The minutes passed, and suddenly it was time for his speech.

His head was clear enough that he could recite it without error.

Hopefully the Zora would go easy on him and blame his blank gaze on the loss.

He didn't know if it was a lie at this point.

"Zelda was a good friend of mine. I was her guard and her friend. After the Calamity, she became a sister to me. She loved researching the flora and fauna of the world and was always excited to explore. She had barely experienced life, her second chance was taken far too soon. I will do my best to ensure her memory is preserved, and I will do my utmost to follow in her stead and appreciate the wonders of this world."

It was very short, but Flora didn't like flowery speeches anyway. Besides, Wild needed to make sure the Zora elders didn't think he was trying to be all high and mighty by extending his speech.

He didn't want to deal with them.

Not today.

His piece said, he went silent. 

When the time came for her burial near the flag, all of Hateno paid a visit.

Wild was last.

It was getting dark, but he paid it no mind.

As if his mind were operating well enough to notice.

He walked up to her grave, and his cheeks felt wet.

When did he start crying?

He ignored it and let them flow as he prayed to Farore, Nayru, Din, and even Hylia for Flora to reach her peace.

For her to be able to settle alongside her father, Mipha, Daruk, Urbosa, and Revali.

He would do his best to avenge her death, but he wanted her to be at peace first.

He didn't want her to be stuck, worrying about him as he fumbled about trying to kill this Ganon. He didn't want her to be tied to this realm for even a second, not like Urbosa, Revali, Mipha, and Daruk.

He wanted her to see her friends again and feel peace.

If he made anymore pleas to the godesses, this was the only one he hoped with all his heart for them to carry out.

He prayed for another ten minutes, before laying a dimly glowing silent princess on the grave and heading back to the tech lab, changing into his normal Hylian Trousers.

Purah nodded, hands on her hips, he could tell her smile was fake.

"All right, so maybe you'll need to go to the Spring of Courage and Wisdom. I'm sure you know where they are. We can't waste much time because all this time is just giving Corpse Ganon time to plan. I recommend going to the Spring of Courage first, I'll contact you via the slate if I find any information on Nayru's blessing. Now go, I'll also be trying to find information on what we should do to weaken Corpse Ganon and seal him away. We don't want this seal breaking like the last one did."

Wild gave a nod, putting on his Hylian Hood.

His words were still gone.

He left not even a moment later, warping to the Shae Katha shrine.

Purah went back to the stack of books in front of her, trying not to cry.

**Author's Note:**

> Feel free to recommend any tags.
> 
> And yes, the title is a reference to Legend :)
> 
> Aiming for Tuesday night/Wednesday Morning. Trying to actually get a schedule going.


End file.
